FREE SPEECH

"A
century or so from now, observers looking back on the 1990s will
consider the advent of the Internet and the World-Wide Web one of the
great watersheds of history – comparable technologically to the
invention of movable type, artistically to the Renaissance, and
socially to the Declaration of Independence... Tens of thousands of
creative network citizens across the world are setting up their own
information servers and joining the Web. In the process, those net
citizens are completely bypassing the Establishment with its
bureaucracies, class hierarchies, and power structures, not to mention
the entire monolithic apparatus of the traditional publishing industry!"
— Ray Duncan, PC Magazine, May 16, 1995

"The First Amendment says nothing about a right not
to be offended. The risk of finding someone else's speech offensive is
the price each of us pays for our own free speech. Free people don't
run to court – or to the principal – when they encounter a message they
don't like. They answer it with one of their own." — Jeff
Jacoby

Be fully
prepared for any argument!Learn the lessons others have learned– often, the "hard" way.See:Tactical
ReflectionsExample:Remain the judge of your own actions. Never
surrender that position by default. When the enemy screams "Foul!" the
loudest, you know you're doing him the most damage. Those who help him
scream are also the enemy.

Activists and authors
should visitThe
StentorianA Web domain devoted to the art
and science
of political communication

To Deal with Leftists, Imagine You're Confronting SatanSelwyn DukeTruth
means nothing to leftists. The ends justify the means and they will
literally say or do anything to achieve their aims. They'll use
violence – Antifa, BLM, rioting and attacking Trump supporters – and
intimidation while calling conservatives fascists and blaming them for
the unrest. They'll rail against "racism" one moment and then excoriate
a race (whites) the next.

The Power of Being "Offended" in Order to Shut Down Political DebateRachel Alexander Progressives
are increasingly claiming to be offended whenever those on the right
disagree with their left-wing positions. It doesn't matter what the
issue is; the left will divert a legitimate political debate into an
accusation that the right disagrees with them because they are full of
hate towards them. This puts the right on the defensive, and removes
the real debate from discussion.

Who is 'The Press' in the First
Amendment?Dan SmythWhat does "the press" mean in the First
Amendment's guarantee "Congress shall make no law...abridging the
freedom of...the press"? The Mainstream Media or collection
of reputable Internet, print, TV, and radio journalists,
right? Bloggers, too, if you're feeling generous?

Suing to
Silence Free SpeechJeff JacobyWhat would happen if a powerful union sued a
think tank for accurately quoting the union's president in a letter to
its supporters? Anyone who went to law school will recognize that as
the kind of far-fetched hypothetical that law professors dream up in
order to spark classroom discussion. But this is no hypothetical.

Practicing
Intellectual VirtueWendy
McElroyA good argument, as much as good meal, is one of
the joys of living. The Intellectual Virtues are meant to give you
control of arguments, not to be used as a prudish rule book that strips
color from your conversations.

Be
Not AfraidJustice
Clarence ThomasThe insistence on civility in the form of our
debates has the perverse effect of cannibalizing our principles, the
very essence of a civil society. That is why civility cannot be the
governing principle of citizenship or leadership.

A
Hostile Environment for Free SpeechIn America, we're
free to express all sorts of opinions, good, bad, and ugly. Some people
may be offended, and quite rightly so. But the government has no
business outlawing such expression.

The
Importance of Talk Radio"What has happened
recently, and what has so unnerved the liberals, is that talk radio has
"gone national." Instead of local talk show hosts commiserating with
conservative insomniacs during the wee hours, Rush Limbaugh (and
others) are proclaiming well-informed conservative views in an
entertaining format in broad daylight to tens of millions of people."

The
Dehumanization of Dissent "What is taking place is
something far more serious than the emergence of some new tolerance.
Beliefs and values integral to our Judeo-Christian ethic and Western
civilization are not only being displaced but adjudged to have been
medieval and wicked."